In light of Newsweek's current credibility problem in the Wilson case, and in light of the fact that both the UK's Kelly suicide case and the Wilson Fib File ar part of one larger case revolving around Iraqi nuke shopping- Is some other party feeding info to journalists to disrupt the intelligence services of both the UK and US or to set one against another, anything to weaken them?
AUGUST 16, 2003 Saturday : ("UNNAMED SENIOR US GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS" ALLEGEDLY ACCUSE BBC OF RUINING FBI & RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE ATTEMPT TO INFILTRATE AL QAEDA) The FBI has accused the BBC of wrecking an elaborate operation that was designed to infiltrate al-Qaida. The BBC, regarded by some as institutionally anti-American, is said to have aborted the operation by broadcasting an "exclusive" report about the arrest of a British arms dealer last Tuesday. The arms dealer was allegedly attempting to purchase ground-to-air missiles for terrorist clients who were seeking to shoot down civilian airliners in the United States.
But what ... Hemant Lakhani did not know was that he was the subject of an elaborate, 18-month-long sting operation that involved Russian intelligence "suppliers" and FBI "customers." 68-year-old Hemant Lakhani was arrested when he arrived in Washington last week to take delivery of the missiles, which had been disabled before leaving Russia. First news of the arrest came in the BBC "exclusive," which led the network's main evening news program.
[Unnamed] Senior US government officials told Newsweek magazine that the ultimate aim of the sting was to arrest Lakhani and then turn him into an informant who might lead them to terrorists trying to buy weapons. This, however, was no longer possible after the BBC broke the story of Lakhani's arrest as the lead item in its main evening news program on Wednesday. Newsweek said sources at the US Justice Department were "fuming" that the BBC "may have blown a rare opportunity to penetrate al-Qaida's arms buying network."
A BBC spokesperson said the network had not received any complaint from any US authority about the story. "All the interested parties were alerted to the report before transmission and at no time registered their concerns," said the spokesperson. - "FBI accuses BBC of wrecking operation to infiltrate al-Qaida," by DOUGLAS DAVIS, JPost , Sat Aug 16, 2003
AUGUST 2003 : (BBC JOURNALIST & FRIEND OF THE LATE DAVID KELLY SAYS HE IS SUING NEWSWEEK OVER ITS ALLEGATIONS THAT HIS STORY RUINED US PLANS TO INFILTRATE AL QAEDA) The BBC journalist who broke the news that a British man [Hemant Lakhani] had been arrested for trying to sell a missile to terrorists is to sue an American magazine which claimed his scoop had ruined FBI plans to infiltrate al-Qa'ida. Tom Mangold - a friend of David Kelly who spoke on behalf of the weapons inspector's family after his death - has instructed the law firm Mishcon de Reya to begin legal action against Newsweek. The magazine claimed on Wednesday that officials in the US Justice Department believed the report had scuppered their plans to persuade the arms dealer to work for them.
Christopher Christie, the US attorney for New Jersey, said on American television that the report had not affected the outcome of the operation. "This investigation has gone on for 18 months and we executed the plan in almost exactly the way we laid it out," he said.
The sting began in Russia where an undercover FBI agent told the arms dealer they wanted to buy a missile to "shoot down a commercial plane". Mr [Tom] Mangold [a friend of David Kelly who spoke on behalf of the weapons inspector's family after his death] said the man bought the missile for about £50,000 through "corrupt middle management" at a Russian factory. It was also claimed the arms dealer said 50 Igla missiles could be obtained. A BBC spokeswoman said: "Obviously ... for Christopher Christie ... to say the news media in Britain did not compromise the investigation gave Tom Mangold [a friend of David Kelly who spoke on behalf of the weapons inspector's family after his death ] the confidence to go to Mishcon de Reya and ask them to start proceedings."
- "BBC journalist to sue US magazine over 'foiled FBI plan' story," By Andrew Johnson, The Independent, , 16 August 2003, Independent.co.uk